Earlier this month, MetroPCS announced the coming launch of the Samsung Admire, an entry-level Android being promoted as a cheap, accessible smartphone for students during this back-to-school season. While we learned what we needed to about the smartphone’s hardware specs, we weren’t yet privy to the phone’s launch date or price. We had estimated we could hope to see the off-contract smartphone land near the $150 mark. Turns out, it’s a bit of an even better value than that, and the Admire is currently available for about $130.

You get the hardware you pay for, and at $130, we’re not looking at this year’s hottest features. If an 800MHz single-core sounds fast enough for your needs, and an HVGA 3.5-inch display is high-res enough for your tastes, then the Admire could be a good fit. The phone ships running Gingerbread.

In reality, you’re not going to get the Admire because of these specs, but in spite of them. MetroPCS might be right on the money with this positioning of the Samsung as right for students. While a ruggedized Android may be even more appropriate, the replacement cost of a lost or broken Admire is pretty easy to swallow.